Race Rundown

McMurray wins at Atlanta: #88-Jamie McMurray won the Great Clips 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway for his eighth career Nationwide win. #18-Kyle Busch finished second, followed by #60-Carl Edwards, #33-Kevin Harvick, #16-Matt Kenseth, #20-Joey Logano, #10-Jason Leffler, #1-Ryan Newman, #98-Paul Menard, and #6-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. There were 4 cautions for 17 laps and 9 lead changes among 5 leaders. The attendance was reported at 71,300. Complete results are posted on the Atlanta race results page.(9-4-2010)

Atlanta Race Fast Facts:
Jamie McMurray won the Great Clips 300, his eighth victory in 179 NASCAR Nationwide Series races.
This is his first victory and sixth top-10 finish in 2010. His last victory came on Nov. 13, 2004 at Darlington Raceway.
This is his second victory and fourth top-10 finish in eight races at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Kyle Busch (second) posted his fourth top-10 finish in seven races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It is his 18th top-10 finish in 2010.
Carl Edwards (third) posted his fifth top-10 finish in six races at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (10th) was the highest finishing rookie.(NASCAR Statistics)(9-4-2010)

Owner Standings following Atlanta are posted. The top 30 are now locked in the race at Richmond. THere were no changes to locked in positions, but the #81-Michael McDowell/MacDonald Motorsports did cut their points deficit to 62 behind #70 ML Motorsports.(9-4-2010)

Kahne on pole at Atlanta: #38-Kasey Kahne won the Coors Light Pole for the Great Clips 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway with a speed of 181.479mph. #18-Kyle Busch will start second. The rest of the top 10: #32-Reed Sorenson, #1-Ryan Newman, #60-Carl Edwards, #7-Josh Wise, #88-Jamie McMurray, #33-Kevin Harvick, #98-Paul Menard, and #20-Joey Logano. Did Not Qualify: #04-Jeremy Clements. The starting lineup is posted on the Atlanta starting lineup page.(9-4-2010)

Atlanta Qualifying Notes:
Kasey Kahne won the Coors Light Pole Award for the Great Clips 300 with a lap of 30.549 seconds, 181.479 mph.
This is his eighth pole in 163 NASCAR Nationwide Series races.
This is his first pole and fifth top-10 start in 2010. Kahne's last pole came at Richmond in May 2008.
This is his first pole in nine races at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Kyle Busch (second) posted his 20th top-10 start of 2010 and his seventh in seven races at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Reed Sorenson (third) posted his third top-10 start at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It is his fifth in 19 races this season.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (13th) was the fastest qualifying rookie.(NASCAR Statistics)(9-4-2010)

McMurray fastest in opening practice: #88-Jamie McMurray was the fastest in the opening practice session for the Great Clips 300. His top speed was 185.251mph. He was followed by: #18-Kyle Busch, #60-Carl Edwards, #33-Kevin Harvick, #32-Reed Sorenson, #10-Jason Leffler, #1-Ryan Newman, #11-Brian Scott, #42-David Gilliland, and #38-Kasey Kahne. No speed: #52-Kevin Lepage, #43 Kevin Hamlin. There were no incidents reported. Complete results are posted on the Atlanta practice results page.(9-4-2010)

Entry List: There are 44 cars on the preliminary entry list for Saturday's Great Clips 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Some notes:
John Wes Townly returns to the #0;
Leffler moves back to the #10 while Kahne returns to the #38;
Matt Kenseth will be in the #16;
The Baker Curb #27 & #43 are TBA;
Parker Kligerman will be back in the #42;
The #61 Specialty Racing team is driver TBA;
The Jay Robinson #49 is not listed;(8-30-2010)UPDATE: Brad Baker will be in the #27, Kevin Hamlin in the #43. Chase Miller will step into the #91 as David Gilliland will drive the #42.(9-1-2010)UPDATE: The #61 team has withdrawn. There are now 43 cars on the entry list.(9-2-2010)UPDATE: The #52 Jimmy Means team with driver Kevin Lepage has been added to the list.(9-3-2010)
See the complete list on the Atlanta entry list page.

Owner Standings following Montreal are posted. There were no changes, but the #35 TriStar Motorsports team fell back to 30th. The top 30 are #locked in the race at Atlanta.(8-29-2010)

Nationwide Series under the lights at Atlanta: The NASCAR Nationwide Series also races under the lights at Atlanta this weekend and season-long coverage on the ESPN networks continues. The race airs on ESPN2 beginning with NASCAR Countdown at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 4, with the race telecast at 7 p.m. and the green flag at 7:16 p.m. Marty Reid will call the action with analysis by Dale Jarrett, and Andy Petree. Two-time champion crew chief Tim Brewer will report from the ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage, while pit reporters will be Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Mike Massaro and Dr. Jerry Punch. NASCAR Countdown from the ESPN pit studio will be hosted by Allen Bestwick with analysis by Rusty Wallace, Ray Evernham and Brad Daugherty. The studio team will interact with the booth during the telecast of the race.(ESPN)(8-30-2010)

NASCAR News & Notes

Harvick Returns To Atlanta To Defend His CrownTwo-time series champion, Kevin Harvick (#33 Rheem Heating, Cooling & Water Heating Chevy) returns to the NASCAR NationwideSeries this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway to defend his 2009win there. Harvick hasn’t been in his Kevin Harvick Inc. equipment sinceMichigan where he finished 10th. In his absence, drivers Elliott Sadler and Max Papis have been behind the wheel.
This season Harvick has made 19 series starts, posting two wins (Las Vegas and Nashville), 10 top fives, 17 top 10s and two poles (Talladega and Charlotte). Of the 10 top fives, seven of those were finishes of third or better.
Harvick has made eight starts at Atlanta Motor Speedway, posting a win, three top fives and five top 10s. Last year he led 131 of the scheduled 195 laps, dominating most of the event.
“Atlanta has been a really good track for us and it seems like we have a really good base set-up for there,” Harvick said. “The only difference is the tires. You have that added variable in there because you don’t k#how the Nationwide car is going to react.”
This season, NASCAR Pre-race Loop Data shows Harvick ranked in the top five in three key categories:
second in Driver Rating with 117.3; fifth in Average Running Position with 7.107; and fourth in Laps in the Top 15 with 85.2% of laps completed at Atlanta in the top 15.
The 1.54-mile track is one that has fit Harvick’s racing style since the beginning of his career. It was the site of his first win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series when he first took the wheel in that series for Richard Childress Racing.
“I just like the fact that the car slides around a lot and you have to move around the race track and really search for somewhere to find more grip in order to make the car drive well,” Harvick said.Penske Racing Continues To Develop The Young Stars Of Today
In a time when everyone keeps asking who is going to be the next best thing. Roger Penske has decided he will #only seek them out, but use the NASCAR Nationwide Series to develop their talents.Penske Racing teammates Justin Allgaier (#12 Verizon Wireless Dodge), and series standings leader Brad Keselowski (#22 Discount Tire Dodge) yielded to 20-year-old Parker Kligerman’s (#42 GetMoreVacations.com Dodge) talent last weekend in Montreal, where Kligerman made his seventh seriesstart at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. In an impressive run, he started 21st and finished eighth, joining his teammatesKeselowski (fourth) and Allgaier (ninth) in the top 10. It was his second top 10 of the season.
Kligerman is one of Roger Penske’s developmental drivers who also drives for owner Eddie Smith. He competed in the ARCA RE/MAX Series last season, amassing nine wins and finishing the season second in the standings.
Keselowski is head and shoulders above the rest of the competition this season as the standings leader.
With his fourth-place finish at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, he has #only extended his standings lead over Carl Edwards (# 60 Fastenal Ford) to 365 points, but also closed the gap on the #18 car owned by Joe Gibbs in the owner point standings. Keselowski has posted four wins, 18 top fives, 21 top 10s and five polesthis season.
His teammate Allgaier also is having a career-best season, currently fourth in the standings with one win, six top fives, 14 top 10s and one pole.In The Loop: Bayne’s and Kahne’s Similarities Are Uncanny The resemblances between Kasey Kahne(# 38 Great Clips Toyota) and Trevor Bayne(#99 Out Pet Car Toyota) are, frankly, bizarre.
They’re both teen idols.
Both could double as a male soap opera lead.
Their talents in a stock car are immense.
Heck, even their last names rhyme.
And, more than likely, they’ll contend for a top-five finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Kahne, by default, will take the role as grizzled veteran in this matchup. Kahne, 30, who has almost a full decade on the 19-year-old Bayne, will start in this weekend’s NASCAR Nationwide Series event. He’ll run Braun Racing’s #38 Toyota for the seventh time this season. His first six starts haven’t produced much success – so suggests his 22.5 average finish.
But a race at Atlanta should cure those ills.
Kahne has scored six top 10s in his last seven Atlanta starts, and in the last five, has a DriverRating of 110.5, an Average Running Position of 8.3, 92 Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in theTop 15 percentage of 84.0%.
It’s #like Kahne has stunk up the show this year, either. Check out his Driver Ratings in some of his poorer finishes. In his 32nd-place run at Bristol in March, he scored a rating of 101.0. In his 26th at Charlotte, he had a rating of 114.0.
Overall, Kahne has a Driver Rating of 97.3, suggesting that his bad finishes were more a product of bad luck than poor performances.
Bayne, #yet 20, is performing well beyond his years. In last year’s Atlanta race, his first at the 1.54-mile track, Bayne scored a 16th-place finish with a Driver Rating of 82.0. Considering his performance lately, both those numbers should improve.
Over the last seven races, only two drivers have scored more points than Bayne: points leader Brad Keselowski and 2007 series champion Carl Edwards.
Over that span, Bayne has three top fives, five top 10s, 62 Fastest Laps Run, 95 Laps Led, a Driver Rating of 104.3, an Average Running Position of 9.7 and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 81.6%.

Robby Benton And Boris Said Turning Heads As Independent Team Wins In MontrealAfter 22 starts in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, Boris Said (#09 ZAXBY’S Ford) took his Roush Yates-powered Ford to Victory Lane last Sunday in the NAPA Auto Parts 200 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.
The event ended with an exciting drag race to the finish, where Said’s Ford gave him the extra power needed to edge fellow driver MaxPapis (#33 Rheem Chevy) by inches across the start-finish line. The 0.012 second margin of victory was the closest ever on a road course in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.
“I’m shocked … overwhelmed,” Said said. “I thought I was going to cry, but I didn’t. This was great clean racing and I’m happy to get this win for my team and owner Robby Benton.”
Team owner Robby Benton operates his organization independently, and the Montreal victory evoked memories of David Gilliland’s epic upset win at Kentucky in 2006 with another independent team, owned by Clay Andrews.
At age 14, Benton, a Charlotte native who grew up just around the corner from the NASCAR R&D Center, had his first job in NASCAR working with Robert Yates’ race team on the flagship #28 car of Davey Allison.
“Davey gave me a pair of driving gloves the day I started,“ Benton said. “He autographed them across the knuckles. I still have those tacked up on my office wall.”
Benton graduated to a crew position with the team, and was one of the many crew members who stood in line along pit road in 1998 congratulating Dale Earnhardt when he finally won at Daytona International Speedway.
Sunday, he was the one receiving the congratulations.
He’d gotten over 100 texts and calls in only a couple of hours after the race.
“I feel those same emotions,” he said, referring to how the industry embraced Earnhardt’s win. “It’s special. It means a lot. It’s a statement. Anyone can do this.”

Kenseth and McMurray Join A Long List Of Double Duty Drivers Raising The Level Of CompetitionDaytona 500 and Brickyard 400 champion, Jamie McMurray (#88 Hellmann’s Chevy) and fellow NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Matt Kenseth (#16 World Financial GroupFord) will be in the field for this weekend’s Great Clips 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
McMurray has made seven starts this season for JR Motorsports, posting three top fives, and five top 10s. McMurray won at Atlanta back in 2002 driving for owner Tammy Brewer. He has made seven series starts at Atlanta, accruing one win, one top five and three top 10s.
In 10 starts, Kenseth owns two Atlanta wins (2004, ’08), seven top-fives, eight top-10s and one pole. His last start at Atlanta came in 2008 when he won the event after starting 10th and leading 14 laps.
Kenseth will have some added pressure this week because he is sponsored by the World Financial Group, an Atlanta based company.
"Atlanta is going to be a great race weekend for the #16 team and I'm looking forward to running the Nationwide Series race," said Kenseth. “We've had success at it in the past and it always makes for an exciting race weekend."
Kenseth and McMurray join 10 other drivers pulling double duty this weekend: Kyle Busch(#18 #Energy Toyota), Joey Logano(#20 GameStop Toyota), Clint Bowyer (#21 ZAXBY’S Chevy), Brad Keselowski,Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne ( #38 GreatClips Toyota), Carl Edwards, David Gilliland(# 91 D’Hondt Humphrey Chevy), PaulMenard (#98 TARKETT/Menards Ford) and Ryan Newman (#1 Phoenix ConstructionChevy).

NNS Etc.: Atlanta Edition►RCR Partners With ShepherdRichard Childress Racing and Morgan Shepherd's (#89 Victory in Jesus Chevy) Racing for Jesus have formed Shepherd Racing Ventures, a partnership to run the #21 for the remainder of the 2010 NASCAR NationwideSeries season.Clint Bowyer will drive RCR’s #21 Zaxby's Chevy at Atlanta Motor Speedway(Sept. 4), Richmond International Raceway(Sept. 10), Charlotte Motor Speedway (Oct. 15)and Texas Motor Speedway (Nov. 6).
Shepherd will drive the #21 Shepherd Racing Ventures Chevy in the seven otherraces remaining.
"Morgan and I have been friends for a long time and he is a direct link back to the days when we raced together in the '60s, '70s and 80s," Richard Childress said. "He's been a great representative of NASCAR for all that time so I'm honored to be working with Morgan in continuing his racing career."►Nationwide Driver Of The Week:
T h i s we e k ’ s NASCAR Nationwide Series Driver of the Week is RobertRichardson Jr. (#23 R3 MotorsportsChevy) driving for R3 Motorsports, which is owned by his father, Robert Richardson Sr. Richardson Jr. has made 17 starts this season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, finishing in the top 25 seven times. His best finish came at O’Reilly Raceway Park, where he finished 15th. Richardson Jr. has made two previous starts at Atlanta, posting his best finish of the two last season (22nd).►Up Next: Richmond
T h e NASCAR Nat ionwide Ser ies heads to the state of Virginia next week, to Richmond International
Raceway for the Virginia 529 College Saving 250. The race is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 10. The race will be broadcast on ESPN2 starting 7 p.m. and the green flag is scheduled to drop at 7:30 p.m. Last season Denny Hamlin sat on the pole for the event and Roush Fenway Racing’s CarlEdwards won.►Competition Corner:Driver Team Points
1. Brian Scott Braun 196
2. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. RFR 181
3. Colin Braun RFR 174
4. James Buescher N/A 97►Manufacturers’ StandingsFord made it back-to-back wins at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve moving ahead of Dodge in the manufacturers’ standings to third, by one point heading to Atlanta.
While Toyota still has a strong hold on the manufacturers’ standings, leading Chevy by 43 points, it’s teams have yet to win at Atlanta. Chevy teams will have an opportunity to close the gap this weekend. Chevy leads all four manufacturers with 11 wins at Atlanta.

►Notable Competition Facts For Atlanta
 Atlanta Motor Speedway held its first NASCAR Nationwide Series event in 1992. The winner was Jeff Gordon.
 Since 1992 Atlanta has held 18 series events, producing 14 different winners.
 Mark Martin is the NASCAR Nationwide Series’ all-time winningest driver at Atlanta.
 Kyle Busch, Mark Martin and Dick Trickle all are tied for the most series poles at Atlantawith two each.
 Matt Kenseth leads the series at Atlanta in top fives (seven), and top 10s (eight).
 Of the 18 series races run at Atlanta, only three have been won from the pole:
- Jeff Gordon — 1992
- Greg Biffle — 2003
- Carl Edwards — 2005

Notes: Teams in both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series will be running the same Goodyear tire codes at Atlanta this weekend . . .
teams will run the same left-side tire code (D-4384) that Sprint Cup teams ran at Atlanta in the spring . . . they will, however, be on a new right-side code (D-4406), which features a minor construction change from what was run in the spring . . . this tire set-up was confirmed out of a Goodyear test at Atlanta on June 21-22 . . . drivers participating in that test were Jamie McMurray, Paul Menard and Ryan Newman . . . as on all NASCAR ovals greater than one mile in length, teams are required to run liners in all four tire positions at Atlanta . . . air pressure in those inner liners should be 12-25 psi greater than that of the outer tire.